Ministry of Information & Broadcasting
PIB, Kolkata organizes day-long media workshop “Vaartalaap” in Durgapur
Vaartalaap facilitates two- way conversation between government communicators and the media: Bhupendra Kainthola, Principal DG PIB
Durgapur, August 25, 2023
To sensitize the journalists about various Centrally-sponsored schemes and create awareness among them on the challenges of social media and fake news, a day-long media workshop "Vaartalaap" was held by Press Information Bureau , Kolkata at Durgapur in West Bardhaman district of West Bengal today.
Addressing the function, Shri Bhupendra Kainthola, Principal Director General , Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India said, Vaartalaap is a platform that acts as a bridge between the government communicators and the media. The objective of the workshop is to enlighten the media with regard to welfare measures taken by the Union Government. Shri Kainthola urged the journalists to look at the impact of the several Centrally-sponsored schemes run for welfare of the people. He gave an example of Jan Dhan yojana under which crores of bank accounts have been opened so far and Direct Benefit Transfer  has removed middle men from the transaction process and brought the rewards straight to the beneficiaries.
Shri Kainthola also highlighted the vast development works done during the last 9 years such as development in airport and highways sectors, massive digital infrastructure development, DBT and UPI which have changed the image of the country. Making of Covid vaccine accessible not only for the people of India but for the whole world during pandemic and successful soft landing on moon by Chandrayan-3 have compelled the world to acknowledge India's capabilities in the field of Science and Technology, he added.
Media persons from Durgapur including those from small and medium newspapers participated in large numbers in the VAARTAALAAP programme meant for dissemination of information related to Central Government schemes, projects and programmes.
Addressing the media, Shri Debanjan Chakraborti, former Addl. Director General, PIB, Kolkata mentioned that Seva, Sushashan and Garib Kalyan  are the hallmarks of nine years of the Narendra Modi government. India has gained global recognition through the Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiative, welfare schemes and reinforcing the strength of India’s manufacturing capabilities. The country has achieved remarkable progress in social, economic, and digital sectors, significantly improving the lives of its citizens.
Shri Manoj Kumar Soni, Dy. Zonal Head, UCO Bank, Durgapur Zonal Office informed the journalists about the various banking schemes started by the Central Government like PMJDY, PMAY, PMSBY, PMMY, PMJJY, Kisan Credit Card, Atal Pension Yojana, Senior Citizen Savings Scheme, Sukanya Samridhi Yojana and several loan schemes among others.
Smt. Aradhana Chatterjee, Digital Content Creator highlighted the importance of social media and said that it is a very strong and popular platform which is being leveraged to create social awareness in a very effective manner.
Shri Joydeep Dasgupta, Multimedia journalist spoke on fake news and discussed various means to bust fake news. Shri Dasgupta presented an overview of the latest, free online tools and workflows journalists can use to find, visualize, and tell news stories. He also focused on searching for and monitoring news story trends online and visualization tools to improve storytelling.
In this workshop, it was also explained how PIB press releases, photos, infographics and other media contents can be obtained directly from PIB’s website, Facebook page as well as twitter handle in Bangla, apart from Hindi, English and other Indian languages.
Smt. Chitra Gupta, Joint Director, PIB, Kolkata conducted the event. In an interactive session held as part of the programme, the journalists shared their concerns and problems faced in their day-to-day functioning. Smt. Gupta answered different queries from the journalists pertaining to different aspects.
Around 50 media persons participated in the workshop which became so lively and participative in nature that it was appreciated by most of them present there.
On the sidelines of VAARTAALAAP, a pictorial exhibition showcasing various Centrally-sponsored schemes for welfare of the people and achievements of the Govt were also organized by the Central Bureau of Communication  Kolkata.
(BK/AC/MSA...